Trustworthy data is vital for IT Finance and Procurement to be able to manage and control costs. In order for IT Asset Managers to identify opportunities for rationalization and improved planning, an IT Asset baseline is critical – but one more granular than is generally available.
Many organizations rely on out-of-date CMDBs and spreadsheets to provide a baseline. Worse yet, they employ spreadsheet kung- fu to combine multiple discovery sets of data. These "business as usual" baseline … [Read more...]

In Part 1, I talked about Shadow IT SaaS usage being an epidemic that is overwhelming to IT departments where 80% of budgets are still spent on maintaining the existing infrastructure. The idea of efficiency and control as a road to cost management is virtually impossible when so much is in the "shadows."
In addition, the proliferation of silos increases cost and introduces both security and governance risk. These silos of SaaS are proliferating based on LOB usage that totally masks their … [Read more...]

More organizations are adopting SaaS applications, and at first glance it seems Software Asset Management should be greatly simplified with SaaS. After all, many SaaS application agreements have some element of seat-based per-user pricing, which means it should be easy to identify users and easy to prevent subscription cost over runs.
But our customers are saying something quite different. SaaS continues to present some unique challenges for Software Asset Management, and these challenges … [Read more...]

IT Cost Optimization solutions can enable Finance and IT to fund strategic innovation and competitive advantage. In several case studies on IT optimization by a leading analyst group, enterprises implementing IT Cost Optimization solutions could save millions.* Although not all costs are accessible, and IT cost optimization projects should not attempt to boil the ocean, there are enough "low-hanging fruit" opportunities to yield material success.
IT Cost Optimization consists of several … [Read more...]

Organizations using virtual machines (VMs) may find per leading industry analysts that they're facing unexpected license costs.[1] These VM license costs can be significant—settlement invoices are ranging from five to eight figures, quickly erasing the anticipated business value provided by VMs.
Obtaining value from VMs requires close attention by Software Asset Managers, IT Finance, and IT Procurement teams in five areas—audits, outsourcing, test and POC use, "VM sprawl," and "shadow … [Read more...]

There are a number of new posts on the hidden costs of virtualization on the Scalable site. These articles will be of interest to any IT Asset Manager or IT Finance team whose organizations are planning to add more virtual machines (VMs) this year.
One article discusses VM License Costs, and the five areas that might lead to unexpected costs of virtualization:
Vendor audits of software usage increasingly touch virtualized environments
The use of outsourced service providers
Licenses … [Read more...]

K-12 Common Core technology demands are top-of-mind for US K-12 IT management. According to a recent survey conducted by O’Keeffe & Company for CDW, roughly 83% of school district IT teams list meeting the technology requirements of Common Core is one of their top three priorities, and 29% report that it’s their first priority.
But Common Core places new technology demands on schools and districts. Not surprisingly, budget concerns were a top IT concern, shared by 76% of those … [Read more...]

A new software usage metering solution (a subset of software asset management) and the business value of this new approach is detailed in a new customer case study report (opens a PDF) from Scalable Software.
Software Usage Metering Solution Savings
Findings from this customer case showed that, of installed applications analyzed,an average of 30% were underutilized or never used. Using Scalable’s approach to software usage metering, over three years, roughly $450,000 in total savings are … [Read more...]

Why is IT Cost Optimization top-of-mind for almost every CIO and CFO? It’s because operational IT costs are out of control. At their recent IT Financial, Procurement and Asset Management conference, a leading analyst group quoted the growth of operational IT costs at 6.4%, or four times GDP. This does not include any spending on innovation; it’s simply to keep the IT "lights on." Organizations are searching for IT cost optimization tools that can drive operational costs down. In addition, IDC … [Read more...]

IT Cost Optimization can enable Finance and IT to fund strategic innovation and competitive advantage. In several Gartner case studies on IT optimization, enterprises implementing IT Cost Optimization programs could save millions.* Although not all costs are accessible, and IT cost optimization projects should not attempt to boil the ocean, there is enough “low-hanging fruit” opportunities to yield material success.
IT Cost Optimization consists of several constituent elements that come … [Read more...]

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We provide an integrated, cloud-based, product-set that discovers and aggregates IT asset, usage, license and procurement information, to present coherent and actionable intelligence, supported by industry expertise, to optimize an organizations investment in IT. Our software asset management services have led many businesses to improve. Let your business thrive with solutions and optimization by Scalable.